a man standing in front of a column of tanks. alone unarmed. one of hundreds of thousands of protesters who face a chinese army. no one knows how much died in the violence that followed. up next we remember the show down. good evening and welcome to a second look i'm julie haener. this spring marks 26 years since thousands of students stood up to the rule of the

world's most populous nation to demand democracy. the death toll remains under debate, from hundreds to thousands. randy shandobil brought us this report. >> reporter: the people asked for the people's republic of china to finally stand up for its name. the communist ideal is that everyone shares in responsibility and shares in the wealth there are charges of corruption. charges that the families of the powered elite get preference. >> partly because you can only get raw materials and produce if you go through the back door. and the more connections you have, the more people you know, the better off you are

economically. >> reporter: robert scalapino is director of uc berkeley asian studies. he says for the first time in memory young students are winning the support of some of china ease workers. because not only is there corruption in china there's also a 35% annual inflation rate. and extremely low wages. >> scalapino says that in the past when china was a more closed society the people may have been more patient and may have had more faith in their leaders but no more chinese masses are now learning about what's happening in other parts of the world and the patient is running thin. >> outside influences come in. and the students know about

democracyization in south korea and they want it themselves. >> reporter: the people of poland, the people of china and the people of the soviet union all seem to want the same thing, democracy. >> i think you can say as i would call it democracy is in trouble everywhere because of the promises in the past have simply not been realized. >> reporter: for nearly seven weeks the protest grew what started with a student hunger strike spread to large square demonstrations. chinese students played an important role during those critical weeks, ktvu reporter randy shandobil covered the activities at stanford. >> reporter: these young chinese men and women tell us they feel both privileged and guilty right now.

privileged that they're allowed to study in berkeley and guilty because they're not with their brothers and sisters fighting in their home country. >> we could not control our tears when we would hear what's happening there. >> reporter: just because they are not in beijing that does not mean they cannot help. the pictures of the mass protests we've have been seeing on american television have not been so available in china. when the chinese government imposed marshal law, reportedly it also started suppressing news. so chinese in smaller cities have no idea what's going on in their own capital. >> it's our purpose to let people know what's going on. >> reporter: young students are letting people in their home country what's going on by

sending fax. they have been taking pictures of the news and faxing it to their friends and family. >> we're hoping to get support of people in other provinces. >> it's a peaceful technological assault. >> reporter: long distance phone calls are being made not only to get information to china but to get word of family members back at home. there's been demonstrations in large american cities to show their support. but because of the news black out in china, almost no one there knows just how much american support there is. still to come on a second look, he stood as the bodies fell around him. a survivor of the massacre describes that terrible night. and a bit later a new museum opens in hong kong to commemorate the events of the protest movement.

on a second look a look back at the tianamen square. the deadly crack down came on june 9. military convoys have matched in all directions at tianamen square. the soldiers opened fire with assault rifles. the killing continued through the night. at dawn the last burst of gunfire were heard. for many watching around the world the massacre was a bloody testimony to the brutality of the chinese government. but for those who lived through the protest and witnessed the bloodshed firsthand, those june houred cast a long battle. in fortman's square in san francisco's china town there's a display of photos. they depict what happened 15

years ago in tiananmen square. a chinese student is curious about the photos. because back at home he does not know what happened. he knows some students were killed. >> they're taking the radical way and they try to make the government hear it and understand them but it didn't work out. >> reporter: this man knows all about tiananmen square. he is yo. he was one of the leaders of the student rebellions that began in joy and hope and ended in a bloody massacre. in april 1,989,000s of young people gathered in the great public square to stage a hunger strike and call for democracy in china. most actually hoped that the government would hear their plea and grant some reforms. fugsu then a student at chingha university intended to join

them for just one day. >> i couldn't leave. i had to be there to be part of the group. that's struggling. that's striving for a freer more democratic china. >> you must have known you were risking a great deal by doing this. >> yes. >> your career probably would be ruined. you might even lose your life. >> actually, yes. we know, i nuclearly what is ahead of me and i think most of the hunger strikers and my fellow student leaders they knew what is ahead of them. >> in the last days of may the government september 200,000 troops marching toward the capital. people poured into the streets trying to block their way with their bodies. >> can you imagine that it's like a wall, 200 fallen troops. that's more than what's used in the bed of, the iraq wall.

and it's attacking the capital. but it's blocked by people with just their love. their hugs. nothing else for 14 days. but on june 4th. tanks rolled into the square and began to fire. >> from about 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. i can hear, i could hear the loud noise like fire crackers. and it was, it's a bullet. i couldn't have imagined coming from all over the city. you can hear from all

directions. >> reporter: some soldiers fired into alleys where people were. nobody knows how many died in tiananmen square, perhaps only the government and they won't say. >> that's why we need. because in one hospital i saw about 50 people. 50 people laying on the ground. i was looking at the names, and there's jung ting. he's from -- he is just one of the 50. >> reporter: he was arrested and put into prison. >> they handcuffed me all the

time. all the time. they never take the handcuffs off. even whatever you do the handcuffs is always on for three months. and sometimes they would interrogate us for 15 hours a day for like one week. >> reporter: despite the investigations, fung sue never gave up the names of students he stood with. after that he was released and found his way to america and got a job at a financial firm. >> i feel fortunate to be here in this line of freedom. to be alive while so many people died. >> reporter: he spends his off hours working for a free china telling the story of tiananmen square and why it was important. in san francisco, bob mackenzie. on this 25th anniversary of

the tiananmen square, one man sits behind bars one year after he was given the noble prize for his call for reform in china. lowe was arrested in 2008 for calling for democratic reforms in china. the charge insighting subversion of state power. when we come back on a second look. cheap guns on california streets. how they exported the guns back to the united states. and the soldiers who drove their tanks into the tiananmen square.

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tonight on a second look, 25 years after the massacre at tiananmen square, pign gave the order to crack down on the

protesters at tiananmen square. john fowler reported on the decision of president clinton to halt the import of guns in may of 1994. >> reporter: the gun on top here is a newly popular legal version of the illegal machine gun below it. agents took the legal version from a convicted gang killer who is selling his guns to his friends for around $75. the chief guns have been coming for years. >> this is the newest that's come in from china. >> reporter: it's a cheap and so far legal copy of the famous oozie. or take this chinese sniper rifle with night scope. these are among the more than 1 million chinese rifles and pistols imported last year alone. a total greater than all the rifles made by u.s. manufacturers. the same organization that carried out the massacre the chinese army is profiting to the tune of $50 million a year from gun sales in america.

15 years ago, chinese leader ping convinced the people's congress to switch defense production to consumer goods. they had weapons factories but chinese citizens can't own guns so the chinese army made military weapons millions of them for american citizens. most of the imports are of this model a 10 shot semi automatic. it fires a bullet a bit shorter but capable of piercing bullet- proof vests. the gun is cheap under $200. less than half the cost of a comparable rifle. but an increased demand will halt sales. >> we need to find out more about the ban before we put a

price on them. >> the banned weapon has the same fire power adds the banned ak47. >> it's a very high tech weapon. you've got a, you've got a high tech weapon at a saturday night special price. >> some of the chinese guns have sold for as little as $60. federal officials say they do not know yet how many of these cheap weapons manufacturers have brought into the country. at least 2 million of them are in american hands. the sks assault rifles are currently illegal under california's assault weapons ban but they remain on the streets. police sources tell ktvu an sks rifle was used in the killing of four oakland police officers back in 2009. and as rita williams reported in 1996, accused gun smugglers claim the chinese government was aware of illegal arms sales into the u.s. >> reporter: federal agents say

these people were part of the biggest automatic weapons smuggling ring in u.s. history. last night agents arrested six people in the bay area and one near sacramento. they are still searching for seven others and there may be even more suspects. >> we still expecting there are more people. >> reporter: they are accused of smuggling by ship from the people's republic of china to the port of oakland 2,000 fully automatic ak47 assault weapons. agents say the street value of the illegal weapons is $4 million. according to the justice department undercover agents purchased the guns which were manufactured in china and arranged for the shipment here in the united states supposedly for the use of street gangs. >> the primary purpose of a fully automatic ak47 is to kill people. i mean it's not a hunting rifle. it's not a sporting rifle.

it's an assault weapon. the ramifications obviously are very serious. >> reporter: and agents say the suppliers of the weapons offered heavier fire power. hand held rocket launchers, mortars, anti aircraft missels. 49-year-old coo from san jose is described as the middleman in the negotiations with undercover agents posing as armed traffickers. customs agents say coo told them three times quote the chinese government knows exactly what is going on. >> the matter of the government, government involvement.

that matter is under investigation. and as a result we have no further comment at this time. agents are looking for robert maw 44 from los altos. described as the owner of the company poly tech. in custody is 65-year-old chin who agents say helped arrange the shipments of ak47s and is the u.s. representative of the manufacturers of the weapons a chinese government company known as norenco. >> mr. chen is a united states citizen. he was a, he has lived in this country for 25 years he's a father of three children. he's hard working. he's never been arrested in his life. when we come back, on a second look, remembering the man who ordered the troops to advance on tienanmen square. the life and legacy of ping. heat shields are compromised. we have multiple failures.

are those thrusters burning? that's a negative. what's that alarm? fuel cell two is down. i'm going to have to guide her in manually. this is very exciting. but i'm at my stop. come again? i'm watching this on the train. it's so hard to leave. good luck with everything. with the u-verse tv app, the u-verse revolves around you the u-verse revolves around you

tonight on a second look we take a look at the protest in china's tianenmen square. ting died at the age of 92. and we filed this report on the man. >> the man who liberated china's -- he improved the lives of hundreds of millions of its people. within a matter of only a few years a network of neighborhood free markets had developed all over the country. he called it socialism with chinese characteristics. a politically correct slogan that gave him the green light

for chinese to oversea capitalism. >> he will be seen as one who led the transition into a much more open period. where by people can talk freely amongst themselves. publish much more freely. previous ideas can be discussed openly in society. and that is no small accomplishment. >> reporter: for former professional revolutionary embracing capitalism in any form was in and of itself revolutionary. but he pulled it off because of his impeccable communist party credentials. by the late 1980s, thousands of

chinese young intellectuals decided to speak up. >> giving consideration of the leaders of communist parties rather than the aspirations of the common people. >> reporter: unlike moung, although in his later years he would be known as china ease paramount leader he had retired from his highest official postas high of the military in 1989. while he was a loyal communist partyist, it was his push of reform that opened the eyes of his people to the ways of the

outside world. now that he is gone, his nation can only wonder if in his final years he had any regrets about the new china he had created. this spring a museum dedicated to the protests that tienenmen opened amongst protests. the june 4th memorial museum opened up in april. the museum documents the student protest and the bloody crack down. the chinese governments official line remains that the military took decisive measures to deal with the counter revolutionary riots. in july of 1989 the mayor of beijing said 200 civilians and several dozen soldiers had died. western diplomats estimate up to 1,000 civilians were killed. the chinese government has never released an official death toll. if curator of that new memorial museum says he hopes to push the government to

release the crimes of tienenmen square. i'm julie haener, thanks for watching.

[ telephone ringing ] okay. i'll -- i'll get that. [ beep ] hellllll manny's getting his outfit together for the dance tonight. i was just taking some supplies out to the car. isn't this exciting -- the boys' first dance? greatest day of my life. does phil have a green pocket square for him? teal! [ exasperated ] teal. i don't know. i don't think phil's really a pocket-square kind of a guy. wow! wow. why don't we conference in mitch? ay! look. this might work. well, except that it's turquoise... oh, and a bra?! do you think the kids in my village had pocket squares? here we go with the village. dad, are you still there? unfortunately, yes. please ask claire what time do i need to be at the school to help set up. gloria wants to know -- claire: no, i heard. um, tell her thank you so much, but we have all the help we could possibly need,